Mother keeps tennis battles between Stonington sisters rare

Marc Allard

Monday

May 30, 2011 at 12:01 AMMay 30, 2011 at 6:21 AM

The meeting of Stonington sisters Emilie and Annika Burgess, a senior and a sophomore, respectively, Saturday in the Eastern Connecticut Conference girls tennis championship match was just the second time the sisters met in true competition.

There is only so much you can do as a parent when you have two children, separated by only two years, playing one another in a highly individualistic sport.

But Karin Burgess has done her best to make it work.

The meeting of sisters Emilie and Annika Burgess, a senior and a sophomore, respectively, Saturday in the Eastern Connecticut Conference girls tennis championship match was just the second time the sisters met in true competition.

They hit to one another in practice and play pick-up games, but the only other time they actually had to play one another was in last year’s ECC quarterfinals. And just as in that match, Emilie Burgess defeated her sister for the title.

“We haven’t had them competing at all,” Karin Burgess said. “Since they’re in different age brackets, we have been able to keep them apart, which is great. They go to (United States Tennis Association) tournaments and compete in different age brackets. But Annika is starting to compete in (the 18-year-old bracket) and Emilie is going off to college, so it (the lack of playing each other) will continue.”

They train together in high school and go to clinics together, but their private lessons have been separate and Mom doesn’t even like to see them on the court drilling against one another.

“I told the pros that they work with that I don’t like them to do that, and it has helped,” Karin Burgess said of keeping the rivalry down and peace in the household intact.

Mom remained quiet for the most part Saturday during the ECC championship match between the two. In fact, the only comments from Stonington were exclamations of “nice point” or “good shot” from time-to-time, and there rarely was a name attached to the remark.

Stonington coach George Crouse said it was probably the quietest he had been in a match in some time.

“I went out there at the split, reviewed the win, told them to keep their tosses good, and keep competing and keep focused,” Crouse said. “I could have picked each game apart, but both girls were doing such a great job. There was nothing to say.”

On the court, the two sisters were a study in contrasts.

Emilie Burgess was vocal, constantly berating herself and even hitting herself with her racquet after particularly poor shots. Annika Burgess said she didn’t like to see her sister upset, but it was not an uncommon experience and she knew she had got under her sister’s skin.

“I’ve seen her do that when she gets down, when she gets frustrated, and she gets huge welts on her legs. That’s just her,” Annika Burgess said. “I knew I was (under her skin) even before the match because she was pretty quiet.”

Annika Burgess quietly went about her business, rarely saying more than the score of the game in progress.

“She is an amazing player. She works so hard and all she wants to do is play tennis,” Emilie Burgess said of her sister. “I love playing tennis, but I’m more of a social person. I’m going to play college tennis and she will still have her chance (to win an ECC title). I wanted this as my ending goal of high school: win the ECC tournament.”

Off to UMass

Emilie Burgess will be playing Division I tennis next year, but she will have to earn her way through college. Emilie will attend UMass-Amherst in the fall.

“I’m not on scholarship, but I have a spot on the team,” Emilie Burgess said. “I have to work my way into the lineup, and if I make the top seven, then I can earn scholarship money.”

According to the Stonington senior, the UMass scholarships went to players from Spain, Nevada and California.

“She was asked to play for them back in September. They have a really nice facility up there, a nice team,” Karin Burgess said. “We watched the team compete and have been to a few of their matches. The camaraderie is great. The coach is great.”

The key for Emilie Burgess was the school’s size. She had been recruited by smaller institutions such as Skidmore College and Denison University, as well as several other smaller schools, but wasn’t happy with what she experienced in her visits.

“It really wasn’t the thing for me because it felt like high school all over again,” Emilie Burgess said. “I love high school tennis, but I wanted to step it up and have the opportunity to play really good players on a really good team and travel.”

Emilie said she applied to UMass on a lark, not expecting to get to play there.

“I sat down with (head coach Judy Dixon) and she told me she would love (for me) to come there,” Emilie said. “I wasn’t expecting it. I did it just to see if I had the chance to play Division I. I was in awe.”

Prom or play

A difficult choice awaits Amy Whitehouse and Nicole Stevens.

The East Lyme doubles partners may or may not play in the girls tennis State Open championship which begins Saturday because of another pressing engagement: The East Lyme senior prom.

"We’re going to play the whole day by ear,” Whitehouse said. “We’re going to go and sign in and try to play some, but it really depends (on time).”

It’s not a new situation for East Lyme girls coach Laurie Privett. The same situation happen last year regarding ECC champ Victoria Santoro.

“When you’re a girl, that’s very tough,” Privett said of the looming decision. “When I was playing, I would have gone and played tennis and still have gone to the prom. I would squeeze it all in.”

Santoro and her parents decided not to check in at the Open last year.

“They decided they weren’t going to check in because it wasn’t going to rain and they really wanted to leave,” Privett said. “We got to New Haven and an hour later, it poured. If she had checked in, she could have played.”

Whitehouse and Stevens are going to not make that same mistake. They plan to check in.

“You never know if someone is going to default because they have a prom, too, or if you can get a round in,” Privett said. “So, we’re going to go down, hope for the best, do a little rain dance. Not that you want it to rain on prom night, but we kind of do.”

The dilemma is not limited to girls tennis players.

Last week, Bacon Academy boys singles standout Zack Bussiere opted to forfeit his ECC quarterfinal match because of a prom at the Colchester school.

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